Basic Income
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of universal basic income on (a) income distribution and (b) wealth inequality.
Answered by Emma Reynolds
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. These forecasts, including any assessment of the macroeconomic impact of policy decisions, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR publish their forecast in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The OBR’s latest EFO can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility. This includes the OBR’s assessment of government policy announced at Spring Statement 2025.
Universal Basic Income is not a government policy and therefore no assessment has been made of its economic or distributional impacts.
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